The Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady is a true jewel amongst Gothic architecture in Moravia. The widow Queen, Eliska Rejcka, established the Cistercian convent in 1323 next to the old parish church of Our Lady.
In 1868 Johann Gregor Mendel was elected Augustinian abbot, and it was in this monastery that he discovered and formulated his theory of genetics.
In 1987 the Old Brno church was elevated in status by Pope John Paul II, and from that time it has carried the title 'Basilica minor'.